


Just Another Orbit of the Sun

by GrandAdmiralMatt



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:21:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28485282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrandAdmiralMatt/pseuds/GrandAdmiralMatt
Summary: New Years Eve, 2021, signals not just the end of a year, but also the arrival of aliens. Might turn into a series.





	Just Another Orbit of the Sun

**New Years Eve - 2021**

Miles didn’t care much for parties. They were loud, obnoxious and tended to keep him up on work nights. And of course, no awful party was complete without fireworks.

That characteristic hiss followed by a sharp crackle and burst of light had been a regular occurrence throughout the evening. It was starting to grate on his nerves. And if that wasn’t doing it the music of the non-stop parade sure was. 

Floats, marching bands, the works were active in the street. As a result, the sidewalks were crowded. Some watched the display, cheering. Others stumbled in and out of bars or simply drank on the street in obvious displays of intoxication. No one minded. They were all too excited.

Miles weaved between and around these ones, not hiding his disdain, but not dwelling on it either. He, regretfully, had somewhere to be tonight.

No, Miles didn’t care much for parties, and New Years Eve was the worst party of all. Practically the whole world decided to forgo such luxuries as sleep for one night to celebrate the arbitrary end and beginning of a unit of time. Just another orbit of the sun. What was so special about that? 

He'd hoped for a more reserved celebration this year. With the Covid pandemic of the year prior having neutered partying in much of the world, he’d been hopeful that this year would have been a repeat. But they’d had to go and make a vaccine. Even still he’d hoped people would’ve at least learned and recognized parties for the writhing, disgusting, virus-breeding cesspools that they were. 

But then _it_ happened.

He sighed, letting his gaze finally tilt up to the sky above. More fireworks crackled, but beyond those, distant lights burned in the sky. They weren’t stars. Light pollution from the city made most stars invisible. These lights were varied in color. Some were stationary. Others zipped up and down the skyline, earning _oohs_ and _aahs_ from watching pedestrians. 

They were alien ships.

It had begun six months prior. Messages broadcasted from outside the solar system with insistent regularity. It had taken some time to decipher the messages, not on account of their complexity, but actually because of the lack thereof. Everyone was so busy trying to decode an alien message, that it was some time before anyone checked if it was actually something we already understood. English, at least at first, written in binary code. The message was three simple words:

_We Are Coming._

Eventually it’d changed to Mandarin Chinese. Then Spanish, French, Russian and so on.

The governments of the world had naturally tried to hide this fact. They’d done their best. But the message had been spread too wide. Corporations had discovered it before long. And before even they could figure out how to monetize the discovery, the scientific community seized a rare bout of expediency. Astronomers wrote, reviewed and published journals on the monumental discovery in record time.

Gag orders had been circumvented, the internet had done its work, and before long the whole world had known the truth: 

Humans were not alone in the universe. Aliens were real, and they were on their way. 

Panic had naturally followed. There was the usual rioting and fear mongering, but the world had gotten used to that sort of reaction with disturbing efficiency.

Miles didn’t really mind fear mongering itself that much. A healthy amount of paranoia was good, so long as it was well balanced and didn’t end with you tossing molotov cocktails into department stores. 

The next development had helped calm the masses. The alien’s messages had grown in complexity. They explained that they’d been observing humanity for some time. They’d seen our various trials and weaknesses, but also our strengths and victories. They’d decided to share some of their knowledge with us. Everyone needed help from time to time. Once, long ago, another species had helped them just as they now helped us. 

A layer of cautious optimism settled after that. Many still didn’t fully believe. There was the usual round of conspiracies, like that it’d all been made up by the government and was a cover for satellite mind control devices. And there were also fears that the aliens were flat out lying and would pull a War of the Worlds soon as they were close enough to do so. 

When their ships had first appeared in the solar system, real communications had begun. Back and forth between aliens and representatives of Earth. They answered all questions posed to them. Even started an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. Explained what their home planet was like, aspects of their culture, and gave very general explanations of their technological capabilities. They even told jokes and shared memes. 

That’d won most people over.

The aliens had come off downright personable. These aliens were no longer a theoretical presence. They were real, communicating people. This was no conspiracy, you could see their ships with a good enough telescope for crying out loud. 

And Miles had. He’d needed to see for himself. He’d never forget the chill down his spine when he’d first seen one of those ships hanging in the night sky.

As the months grew on the aliens had inched closer, only of course, after clearing everything with all suitable officials, be them governmental, scientific and even religious. They’d ended up setting up shop in earth’s orbit, with promises to come down and visit soon. However, they’d decided to wait until humans had completed their ‘celebratory solar rotation.’ The Chinese government hadn’t much cared for that reason for delay, but hey, they were still trying to hide the aliens from their masses so who cared what they thought?

So here they were, giving a light show to the whole world on New Year's Eve. Floats with little green men and every other depiction of aliens in fiction. The actual aliens had pointed out that most of these were wildly off the mark, but also didn’t mind the association. One of them even had ET as his profile picture.

That wasn’t to say the whole world had decided to simply trust the aliens. Contrasting the revelers were the classic doom and gloom types. Signs declaring: “End is Nigh!” “Alien Overlords Here!” “Nuke Them Before They Eat Us!” and so on and so forth. 

They were loons, of course. And yet...some part of Miles found more kinship with the crazies than the people that simply bought all this. It seemed too...perfect. Aliens, it turned out, were kind of boring. Or so they wanted to seem.

Miles finally found the place he was looking for. A bar by the name of Terry’s Tap. Miles let out a sigh and walked inside.

The debautercy continued within. Drunk sang songs welcoming our new “Friends from the Stars”

Miles scanned the booths and spotted the architects of his annoyance: His two friends and roommates, Jack and Harper. They spotted him and waved excitedly. He rolled his eyes and walked over to take a seat beside Jack.

Jack was a six-foot, two-hundred pound, muscle-bound welder who couldn’t hold his liquor as well as his size would suggest.

Harper was a five foot two, ninety-pound blonde who worked in insurance and lived by the phrase ‘dance like nobody’s watching.’

They were tragically his two best friends in the world.

“You made It!” Harper exclaimed.

“Against my better judgement, I did.” Miles nodded.

“You’ve been missing a great night, dude. Did you see the parade?”

“I don’t see how I could have missed it.”

“Nah, don’t listen to him, the Parade is lame. In here is where it's at!” Harper declared raising her pint to the rest of the bar who cheered in reply. 

“She was dancing on the bar earlier.” Jack informed “It was wild!”

“Now that I actually would have liked to see.”

“Well don’t worry, the night is still young!” Harper shook her arm, waving one of the waitresses over. 

“Whatcha having?” The perky woman said, far more lively than anyone working on New Years ought to be.

“Just a beer.” 

“Awe, come on man,” Jack shook his head. “Try something a little harder for once.”

“When’s the next time we’re gonna party like this!? It's New Years Eve and there are aliens above our heads!” Harper argued.

“Yeah…there sure are...” I said, eyes drifting out the window towards the lights in the sky above. 

They noticed my hesitance and both sighed.

“Why the long face, hon?” The waitress inquired.

“He’s just suspicious of the aliens.” Harper said conspiratorially. “Thinks they’re all gonna probe us.”

“Ah.” The server said, understanding.

“I have a healthy amount of caution, that’s all. And I _will_ be having a beer.”

The waitress nodded and walked off. 

“You’re gonna have to come around to the aliens sooner or later.” Harper said pointedly.

“That’s what I’m worried about…”

“Here he goes again.” Jack let out a sigh.

“I’m just saying that I think they’re trying a little too hard to get us to put our guard down.”

Harper shook her head. “Look, why would aliens come thousands of light years, overcoming the very laws of physics just to try and pull an Independence Day? We’ve got no resources that you couldn’t find all over the galaxy. They’d benefit nothing from an interstellar war. It makes no sense. You’re just programmed by movies.”

“Maybe.” 

Her arguments made sense. Harper was an intelligent woman. It really didn’t make logical sense why aliens from such an advanced society would harbor any malicious intent for what to them would be a primitive and relatively harmless civilization. That didn’t make the uneasy in Miles gut go away.

Mainly for the simple fact that human beings had accomplished an astonishing amount in their time on the planet and had still managed to be real pieces of crap when it suited them. Advanced technology didn’t equal and advanced people.

But there was really nothing he could do anything about it. In a few years China would control their economy, the ice caps would be melted, and everyone would have chips in their brain. Change, good or bad came. And there was little that one man like Miles could do about that.

The waitress came back with his beer. So he settled into the booth and started drinking.

“Alright,” Jack finally said. “I’m gonna see if any of these guys want to play a drinking game. Everytime a firework goes off, take a drink!” 

Miles shared a look with Harper. It seemed they’d be carrying him home once again. She only shook a head and put down her own drink. She started bouncing to the song that came on on the radio.

“Welp, I’m gonna see if anyone wants to dance! I love this song!”

The night wore on and everyone kept partying. Even Miles wasn’t immune. That was perhaps the biggest problem with parties: They were contagious. He even found himself singing along with some of the drunks at one point.

But later, when 12 o'clock was approaching, things were really heating up. Fireworks blastest with little pause, and few in the bar were truly sober anymore, Miles being a notable exception. The nonstop partying of the night was fast-approaching its zenith.

And then it happened. Harper was singing along with a group of partiers, their words slurred and broken, when one of them swayed something awful. A young guy, that Miles would have described as extraordinarily ordinary looking, suddenly doubled over and vomited on the floor. It was a violent retch that made everyone around scatter. Some of it, tragically, got on Harper’s dress. She’d be moping about that later. But there were a few laughs and some even ignored it all together. But then the man fell to his knees quivering.

“What’s wrong? Just found your limit, buddy?” Harper asked, leading in to touch him on the shoulder comfortingly. She was too nice sometimes. 

Then the man looked up, eyes hazy. The skin on his face had bled to shades of indigo in patches. People around him scattered backwards. His eyes focused and he seemed to notice that he’d become the subject of some attention. He looked down at his hands which were fast bleeding to indigo as well. His eyes twitched in a strange expression. 

“Xfildrq’Hnin!”

With that peculiar non-word, the man sprinted out the door. Distantly, Miles heard the fireworks crescendo and a collective cheer outside. It was a new year. No one in Terry’s Tap joined in the cheer or kissed each other. They all stared at the door. Harper who’d actually touched the man and still had his vomit on her dress looked petrified.

Miles then did the only thing he could think of, and ran after the man. 

He heard Jack curse behind him and chase after. Miles quickly caught sight of the man outside. It wasn’t hard. He was indigo after all. He was also one of the few people not gazing upwards to appreciate the conclusion of the fireworks show. Miles sprinted down the street, shoving people out of the way when necessary. The Indigo Man darted down an alley and Miles was hot on his heels. Jack might have been able to bench press an obscene amount of weight, but Miles had always been more of a track and field man. 

Above, the crackle of fireworks light up what would have otherwise been a dark alley.

A fence split the alleyway halfway down. The indigo man didn’t waste a moment scaling it like a spider. Miles was fast after, but couldn’t quite launch himself right over the barrier as easily, so he lost some time. 

They broke out onto a street parallel with the waterway. The Indigo Man was trying to put some distance between them. Miles redoubled his efforts. He wanted answers. Needed answers!

He was close, closer, just a little more...

Miles tackled the Indigo Man to the ground, sending them both tumbling across the pavement. But the Indigo Man kicked Miles off him in an instant and shot to his feet. Miles was up almost as quick. The Indigo Man had turned around to run in the direction they’d just come, but found Jack standing there, cutting off his escape.

“Nowhere...to run, buddy.” Jack panted out, spreading out meaty arms.

The Indigo Man looked back and between them, seeming to weigh his options.

“Now, how about you explain just what-”

The Indigo Man spun around and dove into the river. Miles cursed. They ran over the edge but there was no sign of the man. Just dark waters.

“...good job blocking him, we almost had him.” Miles eventually said. 

“And what exactly was ‘him?’”

Miles looked up, past where the fireworks were beginning to die down, to scattered lights of the spaceships beyond. 

“You can’t think…”

“I can and I do. Let’s get back to Harper.”

The walk back to Terry’s Tap was quiet. They found Harper crouched down near the pile of vomit. Miles approached, thinking she might have been in shock when she suddenly stood up and handed him a bottle. _Jack Daniels._

“The guys over there-” She stuck a thumb over her shoulder indicating a group of drunks. “-said he was hitting this stuff pretty hard. Put it down like it was water. Bartenders hadn’t seen him around here before. No one else I asked had either.”

Miles nodded, taking the bottle. Harper always was good about getting the facts. Part of her job, Miles supposed.

“...I don’t think he realized he was essentially drinking poison.” Miles finally said.

“Really? But don’t uh...” Jack said, glancing over one shoulder, “... _they_ know all about us?”

“It sure seems that way.” Miles said, distantly. “But if you pay close enough attention, they make plenty of mistakes and misconceptions all the time on their media accounts. I’d be willing to bet the bulk of their more ‘friendly’ material is auto-generated based on our internet patterns.”

“What, you mean like those generated memes?”

“Something like that.”

“What...does all this mean?” Harper finally asked.

“It means they lied. They aren’t going to be here soon. They’re already on the planet.” Miles finally looked up from the bottle, meeting the gazes of his two friends. 

“We should get out of the city. Tonight.”

The entire bar seems to chew on that. Jack and Harper both nodded. The trio moved out of the bar, as inconspicuous as possible. Outside, those oblivious to the revelation continued to party. Miles decided he needed to make some calls. There were some other people besides just Jack and Harper that he wanted to have around in case...in case what? Miles looked up once more at those glowing lights.

They were up to something, after all. He really hated being right.

Ten minutes into the new year, and things were already far too interesting.


End file.
